Chauk ( my, ချောက်) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and

river port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers publ ...

Magway Region Magway Region ( my, မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Magway Division) is an administrative division in central Myanmar. It is the second largest of Myanmar's seven divisions, with an area of . Pa Del Dam (ပဒ� ...

, north-central

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(Burma), on the Irrawaddy River. It is located across the river from Seikphyu (ဆိပ်ဖြူ) and is connected by a bridge.

History

In 1902, the Chauk-Lonywa oil field was discovered near Chauk, which is presently a major source of income for the town. On January 2, 2014, Singapore's Interra Resources announced that its jointly controlled entity, Goldpetrol Joint Operating Company Inc., had commenced drilling development well CHK 1177 in the Chauk oil field in Myanmar.

Climate

Located in the “Dry Valley” of central Myanmar in the rain shadow of the Arakan Mountains, Chauk has a borderline hot semi-arid climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''BSh''), being a little too dry to qualify as a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(''Aw'') due to the extreme heat and high potential

evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transpi ...

. Unlike most monsoonal semi-arid climates, the rainy season in the “Dry Valley” is relatively long at around five to seven months, while variability and extreme monthly and daily rainfalls are much lower than usual with this type of climate.See

Earthquake

The 6.8 Mw Myanmar earthquake shook north-central Myanmar on August 24, 2016, with a maximum

Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

of VI (''Strong''). Four people were killed and several ancient temples were damaged.

Economy

A refinery was built in Chauk for the Chauk-Lonywa oil field that also processes crude oil that comes down a pipeline from

Yenangyaung Yenangyaung ( my, ရေနံချောင်း; literally "stream of oil") is a city in the Magway Region of central Myanmar, located on the Irrawaddy River and 363 miles from Yangon. Until 1974, it remained the capital city of both Minbu Div ...

.Bečka, Jan (1995) "Chauk" ''Historical Dictionary of Myanmar'' Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, New Jersey, p. 58, The Chauk field was still producing

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

as of 1995.

Notes

Populated places in Magway Region Township capitals of Myanmar {{Magway-geo-stub